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CHAP. 17. (13.)—BIRDS, THE RACE OF WHICH IS EXTINCT, OR
OF WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN LOST.

An inauspicious bird also is that known as the "incendiary;"1
on account of which, we find in the Annals, the City has
had to be repeatedly purified; as, for instance, in the consulship of L. Cassius and C. Marius,2 in which year also it was
purified, in consequence of a horned owl being seen. What
kind of bird this incendiary bird was, we do not find stated,
nor is it known by tradition. Some persons explain the term
this way; they say that the name "incendiary" was applied
to every bird that was seen carrying a burning coal from
the pyre, or altar; while others, again, call such a bird a
"spinturnix;3 though I never yet found any person who
said that he knew what kind of bird this spinturnix was.

(14.) I find also that the people of our time are ignorant
what bird it was that was called by the ancients a "clivia."
Some persons say that it was a clamatory, others, again, that it
was a prohibitory, bird. We also find a bird mentioned
by Nigidius as the "subis," which breaks the eggs of the
eagle.

(15.) In addition to the above, there are many other kinds
that are described in the Etruscan ritual, but which no one now
living has ever seen. It is surprising that these birds are no
longer in existence, since we find that even those kinds abound,
among which the gluttony of man commits such ravages.

1 Cuvier suggests, that it may be the coracias of Aristotle, our jack-
daw probably, the Corvus graculus of Linnæus. It has been said, that in
its admiration of shining objects, it will take up a burning coal; a trick
which has before now caused conflagrations. Servius speaks of it as frequenting funeral piles.

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